Monday, April 16, 2007

If I had not bought a pressure cooker recently I would never have tried cooking chickpeas or even venture into making hummus. With the pressure cooker it is so quick and easy to get the chickpeas cooked and be able to whip up a bowl of hummus within half an hour. The only forward thinking required will be the presoaking of the chickpeas.

Yield : 400gm cooked chickpeas

Ingredients1 cup dry chickpeas2½ cup water1 tsp baking powder

Method1. Soak chickpeas overnight topped with heaps of water as the chickpea will expand.

2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.3. Transfer chickpeas into the pressure cooker. Add baking powder and enough water to cover the chickpeas.4. Once pressure have been reached, turn heat to low and cook for 10 minutes.5. Remove from heat and use the cold water release* to check the chickpeas. If you want it softer, put it back on the stove and pressure cook for another minute or so.6. Drain and use as required or for the cumin and coriander hummus.

1. Adding baking powder prevents the chickpeas form turning black as they cook.2. Cooked chickpeas can be frozen for up to 2 months.3. If you plan on freezing chickpeas, remove them from the heat a little before they are completely cooked. Finish the cooking process when you defrost.4. Warm chickpeas abosorb flavours better than cold chickpeas.5. Chickpeas can be left in the fridge for up to 2 days.

*Cold water release1. Remove the pressure cooker from the stove and place it in the sink.2. Run cold water over the top side of the pressure cooker until all the pressure has been released.3. If using a jiggler-valve or weighted-valve pressure cooker, you can tell that the pressure was released when you can touch or remove the valve and it no longer makes any noise.3. Open the pressure cooker when all the pressure has been released.

Pressure cooker can cook stuff so quickly. After a while you will get a feel of how long each type of food takes to cook in your pressure cooker. In most cases I prefer to undercook, have a peep and then cook for a few more minutes if need be.